Earlier viewers tuned in to watch Rosolie conduct his world-first experiment, where he presented himself as prey to the snake in the Amazon after putting on a special reinforced suit with helmet and devices to measure his vital signs.

Rosolie and his team found an anaconda weighing 180 kilograms while hiking in the Peruvian rainforest and the feat was streamed on the Discovery Channel’s website.

The footage showed Rosolie feeding himself to the anaconda head-first as his colleagues looked on. He was wearing a carbon fibre suit and poured pigs’ blood over himself before imitating the snake’s normal prey to attract its attention and get it to eat him.

“I didn’t want to stress [the anaconda] out too much,” he said.

“I wanted to make sure that the suit was smooth and wasn’t going to hurt the snake.

“I really wasn’t scared. We tested this suit and worked on this with experts so we knew I was going to be safe.”

The herpetologist, naturalist and author also angered animal rights activists by spending an hour inside the snake. While he did not reveal how he got out alive, we know he was eventually regurgitated by the snake.

In response to the backlash, Discovery released the following statement: “Paul created this challenge to get maximum attention for one of the most beautiful and threatened parts of the world, the Amazon Rainforest and its wildlife.

“He went to great lengths to send this message and it was his absolute intention to be eaten alive. Ultimately, after the snake constricted Paul for over an hour and went for his head, the experiment had to be called when it became clear that Paul would be very seriously injured if he continued on.

“The safety of Paul, as well as the anaconda, was always our number one priority.”

Nothing says happy early family Christmas than the family sitting around watching a man get eaten by an anaconda. #EatenAlive